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Alien: Covenant's Prometheus and Alien (1979) Connections Explained

Alien: Covenantis supposed to fill in the gaps left between Ridley Scott's Prometheus and his landmark 1979 Alien movie, which is primarily why fans have been so eager to see it.

While critical reviews of Covenanthaven't been all that stellar, there is value in how the film advances the story of The Prometheus crew, and their connection to the events on LV-426, which led to Ellen Ripley's first encounter with the alien Xenomorsphs. Obviously, there will be MAJOR SPOILERS that follow, so if you haven't seen Alien: Covenant yet, DO NOT READ FURTHER.

If you have seen the film, or don't care about the spoilers, here is Alien: Covenant's Prometheus and Original Alien Connections Explained.

Slide 1/3 – The Fate of Elizabeth Shaw...

An Alien: Covenant prologue teased what happened to Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and David 8 (Michael Fassbender) after the events of Prometheus - but Alien: Covenant reveals the true breadth of their horrific fate.

Shaw hijacked an Engineer ship to fly herself and David's severed head to "Paradise," the home planet of the Engineers. Along the way, Shaw rebuilt David's body - a costly mistake not only for her, but for the entire universe.

Upon arriving at Paradise, David betrayed Shaw, infecting her with a Xenomorph and unleashing the entire cache of The Engineers' bio-weapon pathogen upon the Engineer homeworld. The weapon wiped out The Engineers, while Shaw died from the Xenomorph that burst from her body.

After David lures the crew of The Covenant to his lair, the new model synthetic on the team, Walter (Fassbender), discovers the remains of Elizabeth Shaw on a dissection table.

Slide 2/3 – Deadly Colonization

The big question of Alien: Covenant is "How does it work as an Alien prequel?" And the answer to that question, unfortunately, is: "Barely." If Prometheus' connections to the Original Alien were unclear or confusing, then Alien: Covenant won't offer much improvement.

The long-short of it is that Covenant's "big reveal" (which is utterly obvious) is that David is the nefarious source of the Xenomorph species spreading across the universe. But like all things in Ridley Scott's Alien prequel saga, the story gets overly convoluted when unfolding.

When the Covenant crew arrive on paradise, two members are infected with the pathogen that wiped out The Engineers, giving birth to the "Neomorphs," humanoid Xenomorphs like the one we met in Alien: Resurrection. After the Neomporphs are eventually killed by the Covenant team, David tricks Captain Oram into a vault filled with facehugger eggs, infecting the Captain with a Xenomorph, which David sets loose against the Covenant crew.

The crew flees from Paradise with help from Tennessee (David McBride), who picks the team up in a shuttle. During that escape, Daniels (Katherine Waterston) must kill the Xenomorph before it can get into the shuttle; what she doesn't realize is that during the fight, David replaces Walter, and snuck onto the shuttle.

David infects another crew member with the pathogen when the crew is back on the Covenant; Daniels and Tennessee knock the Xenomorph out of the airlock, but not before losing their fellow crew members. In the end, Daniels and Tennessee return to cryogenic sleep - but at the last second (far too late), Daniels realizes that David has replaced Walter.

Alien: Covenant ends with David coughing up two facehugger embryos, which he stores safely on The Covenant. The final shot shows the Covenant - a ship with 2,002 potential Xenomorph hosts onboard - floating through space, while David broadcasts a message that could lure many, many, other lifeforms or civilizations into David's nightmarish web.

It's never explicitly stated, but the implication is that David's deadly agenda spreads the Xenomorph threat across the cosmos - eventually to LV-426, where Ripley and her team have their faithful first encounter with the Xenomorphs.

Slide 3/3 – More Alien: Covenant

SYNOPSIS: The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.